A plethora of different products are sold to consumers in packaged form. Common examples are consumable products such as cereal (e.g., ready-to-eat cereal), snack food products, and dry mix products to name but a few. Various automated machinery formats have been developed for loading such products into a desired package format (e.g., carton, box, plastic bag, etc.) simultaneously with, or following, formation of the package. The benefits of such machinery and related methods of use are clearly evident; manufacturers are able to rapidly generate large numbers of packaged good articles on an essentially continuous basis with limited operator interaction. With the advent of precision actuators and programmable logic controllers or other computer-based control systems for controlling operation of these actuators, automated packaging machines are highly cost effective, capable of consistently producing and loading desired packaging formats at ever-increasing rates.
While the control systems and other mechanisms utilized with automated packaging machinery has evolved over time, the basic parameters of most packaging systems has remained essentially the same, and is generally a function of the products being packaged and a format of the package itself. For example, certain products have a uniform shape and size highly amenable to self-compaction within a container (e.g., cigarettes); the automated packaging machinery associated with such products is specially constructed in accordance with the unique product attributes. In many other instances, however, the product to be packaged has a relatively inconsistent shape and/or size (e.g., ready-to-eat cereals). Packaging machinery for handling and packaging such products can thus have a more universal design, useful with a multiplicity of different products and corresponding packaging. Even with this more universal configuration, however, the selected package format greatly affects machine complexity and thus manufacturing line speeds.
For example, many products are packaged in a “bag-in-box” format. In general terms, the product is initially contained within a sealed plastic film bag. The combination sealed bag/product is then contained within a separate, outer carton (typically a paperboard-based carton or box). Conventionally, two (or more) separate machines are necessary to effectuate this packaging technique on a mass production basis. A first machine forms, fills, and seals the product-containing bags (e.g., a bagging machine that continuously feeds product into a film tube, periodically sealing and cutting the tube to form the individual closed bags). A separate, second machine (e.g., a cartoner) forms a closed carton about each of the sealed product bags. Typically, sealed product bags are fed by a conveyor to the separate cartoner machine otherwise including a plurality of movable buckets or mandrels. The sealed product bags are placed in or on respective ones of the buckets, followed by formation of a carton around the bucket (and thus around the corresponding sealed product bag). To enhance speed and efficiency, the cartons are supplied to the cartoner in a magazine of flat carton blanks; individual flat carton blanks are handled by the cartoner machine to effectuate folding about a corresponding one of the moving buckets, resulting in the formation of desired folds (and gluing) of the carton panels relative to one another. Alternatively, with double packaging machines, both the bag and the surrounding carton are initially formed around the same mandrel. The resulting double package is then taken off the mandrel and advanced to a separate filling machine where it is filled with a desired quantity of product, and then to a third machine that closes the bag and the carton.
With the above-described cartoner machinery, the buckets are typically maintained in a horizontal orientation to optimize carton formation and throughput efficiency. In contrast, machinery adapted for filling or dispensing loose product into a simultaneously-formed plastic film bag (or into a previously-formed carton or double package) conventionally incorporates a vertical arrangement in which the product is gravity-fed into the package. While the horizontal carton forming techniques and the vertical package filling techniques are well-accepted, the disparity between the package orientation (i.e., horizontal with cartoners versus vertical with product filling machines) has likely necessitated that the two discrete packaging steps (for bag-in-box packaging) be performed by separate machines. Simply stated, conventional bag-in-box packaging machinery can either vertically fill product into a vertically-oriented package, or form an outer carton about a horizontally-arranged sealed product bag, but not both. The two separate machines collectively occupy significant plant space and require multiple operators.
Other concerns raised by conventional bag-in-box package formation and loading machinery relates to an achieved “compactness” or density of the loaded product. As a point of reference, products having uniform shape and size can be readily packaged in a close, compact fashion, and the corresponding specialized automated packaging machinery operates to effectuate the dense or compact arrangement. With automated vertical filling machines, however, the non-uniform product is simply gravity fed into a simultaneously formed film bag (or previously-formed package), and the bag immediately closed (or sealed) once product dispensement is complete, possibly resulting in a relatively significant volume of unused (or void) storage space within the bag. The excess package volume is further increased by the cartoner that otherwise conventionally forms the carton to a size discernibly larger than an expected size (or volume) of the sealed product bag so as to ensure that the sealed product bag will “fit” within the carton. The resultant package volume is therefore larger than the actual volume of the contained product. This, in turn, undesirably wastes packaging materials and storage space. Further, in response to jostling or other vibration of the packaged good article during shipping, the contained product will inherently “settle” within the package, causing the product to occupy even less of the package volume. When a consumer later opens the package, s/he may perceive the package to be only partially filled. Manufacturers will address this potentially negative perception by providing an explanatory statement of some type on the package, for example “the product may settle during shipment” or the like. Even if successful in alleviating the consumer's concerns, however, the manufacturer has still paid for unneeded packaging material, storage and shipping costs.
In light of the above, a need exists for automated packaging systems, devices, and methods capable of forming and loading products into a bag-in-box package format on a mass production basis. Additionally, a need exists for packaging systems, devices, and methods capable of achieving heightened product densification, in turn reducing packaging material and storage space requirements.